On the Loose. Shannon Hollis

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      The music merged into something just as slow and sexy, some Latin love song that picked up where the gypsy blues left off. Josh’s arm tightened around her and their haphazard direction took on purpose. Lauren brought her mind back from the hazy place where it was thinking about truffles and sex to the clear place where it thought about danger and realized that Josh had danced her into one of the club’s private dining rooms.

      “Now, then,” he murmured, and pulled her flush against him. They might have had to be socially acceptable on the main dance floor, but in here, it appeared, all bets were off.

      Yes, it was dangerous. But, oh, Lord, it felt so good. The two White Knights she’d consumed earlier had made her low opinions of key parties and her determination to work go all blurry and insubstantial. And who wanted opinions, anyway, when reality had eyes like this and a mouth to die for? What she wanted was Josh, and he was pressing against her at this moment as though he meant business. She slid her arms around him and let her body melt into the hardness of his.

      Really hard.

      Her knees, which had begun to get their strength back, weakened as her body welcomed the bulge behind the button fly of those black jeans. Desire spangled her blood with tiny little rockets, all going off at once.

      “Josh,” she managed to get out, “what if someone comes in?”

      “We’re slow dancing,” he murmured, his lips brushing her ear, his hips suggesting illicit things against hers. “Nothing wrong with that, is there?”

      She shivered. If his mouth could make her body react like this when he spoke, what would happen if he actually kissed her? And those hips—they promised paradise. “Not as long as you stay between me and the door over there.”

      “What is it about you that has this effect on me?” he whispered. His tongue touched her earlobe and she closed her eyes as the little rockets went off again, trailing fire from her ear to her belly.

      “My razor-sharp intellect?”

      His hands slid over her skirt. “Mmm. That’ll do for a start.”

      She couldn’t stand it one more second. Leaning into him, she backed him against the wainscoting and took his mouth with hers.

      He made a little sound of pure male pleasure in his throat and his lips opened. His mouth wooed, his tongue seduced and, before she knew it, it was she who was backed against the paneling, hanging on to him for dear life, because by God, if she let go she’d fall. She put everything she had into kissing him because he demanded no less.

      Somehow he knew when to release her and let her breathe, dropping his lips to the neckline of her tank top and tracing kisses over her collarbone, working his way along her throat.

      If it were possible for a man to seduce and worship at the same time, Josh was doing it.

      When one hand slid up and cupped her breast, Lauren was sure she would come just from the fire of sensation in her nipple under his teasing thumb. She felt barely contained, ready to erupt. She was so ready, in fact, that if he even—

      The other hand slid under the hem of her short, black chiffon skirt. Her thigh muscles, which under any other circumstances would have tightened in preparation for fending off the attack, relaxed and said, “Oh, yes.”

      “No stockings,” he whispered in her ear, setting off a host of goose bumps. He touched her thigh, then cupped her bottom again, with no fabric between her skin and his bare hand this time. A brief exploration gave him his answer. “A thong.” His voice held pleased discovery. “What color?”

      What color? The color of flushed skin, the color of ripe fruit…oh, that was it. The color of her tank top.

      “Peach,” she managed to say.

      “I love peaches.” He slid one finger under it in back.

      “Josh,” she sighed, “someone’s going to come…”

      “I certainly hope so,” he said, and slid the finger over her hip under the satiny cord, then down the front. His hand flattened against her pelvic bone while his finger found what it sought.

      She moved her feet apart just enough to give him access and hung on as his finger slid into her folds, soft and swollen and wet, waiting for him. In three slow strokes he had her whimpering for release, and with one more it happened. An urgent orgasm exploded under that clever fingertip and spread through her belly, legs and all the way out to her fingers.

      Silently she convulsed against the wall, head thrown back, body a river of sensation, while he dropped her skirt and pressed her against the wall in a hot, demanding kiss.

      Seconds later Maureen Baxter walked in with half a dozen investors.

      From Lorelei’s blog

      Before I went to the key party at Clementine’s, I wasn’t keen about just any random guy opening my lock. After all, how realistic is it to expect that you’d find the person who’s right for you that way? The chances of winning the lottery are better. But now I’m reconsidering. The bash itself was a smashing success, and I don’t just mean Baxter House, which now has enough in donations to commence building again. I mean that I met someone. Maybe it’s only reasonable to expect the love of an evening. Or an hour. But, as the tag line on the tickets said, I unlocked a few possibilities, and for fifty bucks you can’t ask for more than that.

      For more on key parties, speed dating and other postmodern social customs, pick up San Francisco Inside Out and check out Lauren Massey’s article in the Scene section. She was at Clementine’s, too, in the company of the beautiful and scary Michaela Correlli, local child advocate, and the divine Aurora Constable, proprietor of Lavender Field. Did I mention the blueberry-cheese croissants?

      Lorelei

      3

      AT THREE IN THE MORNING, Lauren uploaded “The Key to a Girl’s Heart” to Inside Out’s FTP site so the production team could transfer it into layout for this week’s issue. Lorelei’s blog was already posted, ready and waiting for the regulars on her bulletin boards to sign on with their morning latte and read about her experience at the key party. Having Lorelei reveal something as personal as not only going to a local party, but meeting someone there, was an unusual enough event that a couple of thousand hits and some lively traffic were guaranteed. And if even a small percentage of those people went out and bought the paper to read her article, the Q of P would leave her alone. Maybe for as long as a week.

      It was a good article. She might even be able to use it in her clip portfolio if she ever landed an interview at Left Coast.

      Left Coast.

      Josh.

      Lauren’s concentration shattered. Again.

      The locks rattled and Vivien slipped through the door, looking a little disheveled. Lauren glanced over her shoulder and smiled.

      “Hey, girl. Want a nightcap? Rory scored me some of the Chardonnay left over from the party. Not to mention two boxes of yummies from Lavender Field.”

      Viv smiled weakly. “No, thanks. I’m going to hurt enough СКАЧАТЬ